Following the inception event, CHIME team members also delivered public engagement panels as part of the EFG London Jazz Festival.
At the Barbican Centre, Prof. Tim Wall (Birmingham City University) chaired a panel on jazz and cultural heritage, featuring project team members Prof. Walter van de Leur (University of Amsterdam) and Dr. Beth Perry (University of Salford), together with Eric Arellano (Gamlestaden Jazz Festival) and Emily Jones (Cheltenham International Jazz Festival).
The panel explored jazz as part of cultural heritage and music as a tool for regeneration and social change. Questions that were asked included: How can the arts and arts festivals play a role in addressing issues of environmental and social sustainability? In which ways could or should grassroots cultural activity contribute to further urban development. Can jazz address a wider audience, except for middle-aged white men? Audience members vividly contributed to the discussion, giving insights into the many ways in which jazz is interpreted (i.e. both as a political and a non-political music) and experienced (i.e. as a music of the past and/or the present).
As a prelude to that night’s concert of Ice-T and Ron McCurdy and their Langston Hughes Project, CHIME member Dr. Nicholas Gebhardt (Birmingham City University) chaired a panel discussion on the legacy of Langston Hughes.
Writer and editor Margaret Busby and journalist and broadcaster Kevin Legendre discussed the universality and musicality of the American poet and social activist, and his ability to challenge expectations across racial, cultural and national borders. Altogether, Saturday at the EFG London Jazz Festival was a great opportunity to discuss the CHIME themes with academics, festival organizers, audiences and musicians, and to meet the other CHIME partners in both formal and informal settings.
